1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to enhanced network services using a subnetwork of communicating processors.
2. Description of Related Art
A computer network having more than one possible message delivery path, such as for example a network of computer networks (an “internetwork”), generally comprises a set of processors which have the task of routing each message from its source to its destination. These processors (herein called “routers”, but sometimes called “bridges”, “brouters”, or other terms) generally interoperate using a common distributed routing technique. For example, (1) routers generally exchange information about routing conditions in the network, so as to globally inform all routers of conditions which are detected locally, (2) routers generally each route messages according to the same techniques using the same routing technique.
The collection of routers (herein called the “subnet” of routers) thus has access to a rich collection of distributed information about the status of the network needed for routing messages therein, including detailed and up-to-date information about the network topology, relative distance measures in the network, administrative policies in force in the network (such as, for example, network “firewalls” or routers which will route only a subset of messages), and other information. It would be advantageous to provide at least some of this distributed information to applications which might use it to provide enhanced services. Examples of such enhanced services, and how they would be provided, are described herein.
The router subnet also provides a powerful and available resource for distributing other information, not strictly required for the task of routing messages in the network, such as, for example, relative load at each host in the network. It would be advantageous to disseminate this information and provide at least some of it to applications which might use it to provide enhanced services. Examples of such enhanced services, and how they would be provided, are described herein.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for enhanced network services using a subnetwork of communicating processors.
The following U.S. Patent(s) or other documents may be pertinent:                R. Srinivasan, “RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification Version 2”, Network Working Group RFC 1831 (August 1995).        
The pertinence of the related art will also be apparent to those skilled in the art after perusal of this application.